Ask Star Wars roleplayers which system best evoked the feel of the movies for them, and you’ll likely to get four different answers. What makes the WEG d6 system more “Star Wars-y” than Saga Edition with its d20s or Edge of the Empire with its custom dice? It’s a personal preference, but that it’s a question at all indicates that mechanics somehow inform game experience for...

It may be a surprise (not so much if you ever look at my bookshelves), but I graduated Witt with a minor in Japanese. Funnily enough, I do still use what I learned from my time in language classes, but I remember more of the method than the meanings themselves. If you’re a game or graphic designer looking to add a little extra authenticity and flair to your samurai products or supplements, here are...

Start with an RPG geek, who is already by definition existing within a certain subculture outside the mainstream. Dungeons & Dragons is still “for nerds,” though more and more of us are embracing the pejorative these days. Next, make her a storyteller over a powergamer, and cut her off from more than half of her would-be gaming group. Even worse, make her into Indie RPG’s, such that...

Ladies and gentlemen, at this juncture in time I do heartily recommend that you pause in the midst of your feed-reading and back up any writing, art, notes, etc, on Dropbox (free membership available) or any other web backup or external hard drive of your choice. Yes, you need to do it now. You can thank me next time your hard drive or Windows installation bites the dust. As mine just did, no less than...

When asked what my dream freelance project might be, I immediately thought, “boy, wouldn’t it be great if I could buy the RPG rights to Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels Trilogy,” since right now my work on the Lady Blackbird hack is stalled because, well, she expressly forbids RPG’s based off of her games, in spite of the healthy crop of play-by-post forums that populates the net...

Welcome Storytellers!

Triple Crit is a blog for storytellers of all sorts, be they behind the GM screen, keyboard, or character sheet. Here you can find articles and advice on campaign management, adventure design, character development, writing, and geek culture.

The author, Katrina Ostrander, is a twenty-something gamer chick, game master, and blogger working in the tabletop games industry for Fantasy Flight Games. In addition to her work as an editor of tie-in fiction, she has worked on nearly a dozen roleplaying game adventures and supplements. Her opinions are her own.